Journey to the Derby

Day 8

Only 2 more days of having to pack saddle bags and strap them onto the back of the saddle! Hurray!!!  There was some relief in this thought until you looked out of the ger at the torrential rain that we were going to have to ride through in order to get to that final day! Our horses were good, to be honest they weren’t really tested.  We started off riding through crop fields (the only crops we had seen during the entire journey!!) on slippery mud tracks so speed wasn’t an option and the weather was so bad that you just put your head down and pushed on.  They were great horses in that they just did that, no antics, shying or anything, just went where you wanted them to go which really was exactly what we needed.  For some perspective on the weather, by 7:30am I had a puddle in my left boot where the rain was running down my leg! We realised at this point how lucky we had been with the weather during the race. We hadn’t been rained on since day 1, there had been rain overnight but it had always cleared by morning. The whole thing would have been so much harder if we had been riding in this for days on end, putting wet clothes back on each morning.  It seemed almost unimaginable how much worse things could have been when we’d struggled with what we’d had!

We were still the back of the pack and now we had Unenburen, our Mongolian Head Horseman, at the back of the field with us.  He became a bit of a chaperone/shadow for us over the last 6 legs, stopping to take photos of us and provide encouragement.  We hadn’t seem him since the start line, he had been with the front group getting the horse stations set up and making sure everything was running smoothly, but now with nearly half the field over the finish line he was at the back of the field ensuring the close was going well and spending time thanking the families at each of these stations.

At HS24 we had planned not to stop, the thought of going in getting warm and then having to put our wet clothes back on was not appealing! We were so wet we just wanted to keep going. Unfortunately Jeanette had a fall dismounting.  Her right knee was so bad she was struggling to dismount, so instead of leaving her left foot in the stirrup, as we were supposed to, she went for a traditional dismount but her horse found that all to much and bolted as she got off. That body protector she was wearing came in handy again!! So a bit bruised and shaken we went into the gers to warm up and have some food.  I’m glad we did the family were lovely, they had moved back to the nomad way having lived in Ulaanbataar for a number of years and spoke some English.

After a little break we picked our next horses and carried on to ger 25.  The start of this leg was a struggle to say the least. As we were leaving a crew vehicle came past us and pointed us in the direction we needed to go. Straight across another bog and river!!! This was not on the GPS!! We got through that to find that I had the most mischievous little pony going and probably my hardest ride of the entire race. He was about 13hh!! So we’d go into canter and he would bolt between the other two setting all 3 of us of into an uncontrollable gallop, going uphill was the only way any of us had any breaks to start with…  This continued for a couple of kms which didn’t really help with the navigation. Once we were back on track Charmaine suggested a racing trick where by you don’t start cantering together but leave a gap between each horse. We had control which was great, however my pony was much smaller than theirs and when he got left behind he just decided that he didn’t want to go any more. As soon as I’d catch them up and we were back together as a group he take to bolting through the other two horses again and trying to set them off.  It took 30km and a mountain for me to get to a point where I could stop him doing this!

So we got to HS25, the sun had come out and we had dried off. We were just getting our horses checked in when there was an emergency call so the vet was called out. We couldn’t leave without a vet to sign in our current horses and sign out the new ones so we had a leisurely lunch. This has to be one of the highlights of the race. We were sat in a beautiful area by a lake, the family were so friendly and hospitable, they had a table and chairs set up out in the sunshine and just kept brining food. The daughter spoke some English as she learnt it at school so we were able to communicate without the interpreter who had gone off with the vet.  A second vet arrived and we got ready to leave. As we were about to the heavens opened.  We decided to hide in the ger until it passed (about 15/20) mins and then we headed off. Whilst we were sat with the family sheltering from the rain, they gave us a piece of advice that we should ride the Mongolian way, just push the horses to run until they were tired, then walk for a bit to rest them and then let them run again. That’s how the Mongolians got around, none of this trotting for kms on end…

So off we headed to HS26.  All three of our horses were steady and we didn’t really get much more than a lope out of any of them. So it was slow and when we were almost at the next station we found flood water and another river that was not on the GPS! This had been a day of such mixed emotions and this was just so disheartening! All we wanted to do was get to HS27 that night and time was slipping away dealing with terrain that was slowing us down and no way of speeding anything up. Unenburen had said the night before that if we could get to HS27 there’d be a traditional meal prepared and a bit of a last night celebration and we really didn’t want to miss that.

We finally made it to HS26 and Unenburen was there, we asked him to help us pick our horses. And here’s where we had an incredible end to the day, talk about ups and downs… Jeanette had a racehorse that had an extra gear, just when you thought you were galloping it found another speed and it was gone…  Charmaine’s horse was quick and both of them had some control issues. Mine didn’t have the speed but just kept going so I pointed them in the right direction and off we went.  It was a shame because if I had had this horse for any other leg he would have seemed amazing but against these two he was just slightly lacking. When we were taking a bit of a break half way through the leg Unenburen passed us and stopped to give us each a KitKat Chunky. Amazing! A little chocolate fix was just perfect at this point… We did the leg in 1.5 hours, unbelievable!

So HS27 and the dinner of champions! Basically a milk churn, layer in goat, potatoes and stones and slow cook over a fire. The stones mean that the meat cooks evenly. It was incredible! The three of us, some of the crew and family all in one ger enjoying the meal, very, very special!

Day 9

So the final day, only 2 legs between us and the finish line and a whole day to do it in, all we had to do was not do anything stupid! It was a strange feeling knowing that you were so close to the end, bittersweet in that getting to the end had been all we had wanted to do for over a week but I didn’t really want to get there any more as that meant I had to stop doing this. Yes it hurt and yes it was hard but everyone was so amazing, the horses were incredible and the thought of having to leave the Steppe to go back to ‘reality’ was not really something I could even bring myself to think about…

The family that ran this station were racehorse trainers (see all the medals/sashes behind us in the photo above) so we were in hope of some good steeds. It was a beautiful morning, the sun was just rising as we left and you knew it was going to be a hot day. We got 3 chunky little horses who ran and ran and ran.  For this leg we went with the advice that we had received the day before, let them run until they tire, because if we didn’t then they pulled your arms out wanting to go faster… Unfortunately Charmaine’s horse went lame a couple of kms out from HS28 so from a fast start we slowed to a walk for the last few kms. And the not doing anything stupid… Well as we walked along Jeanette and I went through her Spotify playlists to work out what our finish line song should be… Luckily neither her horse or mine seemed to mind the music choices! We made it to HS28 in one piece, the final station! We stopped for breakfast, this was our last station so there was no way we couldn’t enjoy the nomad hospitality one last time. By now the sun was out, it was warm and we were enjoying our final day and going to make the most of every last opportunity.

Our final 3 horses were just fantastic.  This horse I named Nic due to the nic on his left ear. They felt like riding horses, like something you would pay to hire and enjoy riding. The leg was beautiful, almost alpine. We didn’t rush, just enjoyed the horses and the view. As we had been leaving HS28 the last two riders that had stopped at HS26 the night before had been arriving. They passed us about an hour into the final leg. We told them to tell everyone at the end that we were taking it easy and just enjoying a little holiday on this last leg. We’d been at the back for most of the race so it seemed fitting that we should cross the line last! Unenburen followed us the whole way, stopping to take pictures 3 or 4 times during the route.

In the final few kms we came down into a valley with a lake at the bottom, the end camp was on the other side of the lake. It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen. We all went quiet for a while, I think the realisation of what we had achieved finally hit each of us and I don’t think I was the only one to shed a silent tear.

And then there is was, the finish line, the flags out and everyone there to cheer you across the line. Hugs all round, everyone so pleased to see you. Your horse taken off you and a beer put in your hand, and there we go, over, job done, one of not too many people in the World who have managed to complete the longest, toughest multi-horse race in the World.

  

It’s a feeling I can’t describe completing the Derby, euphoric maybe?!A feeling like you are walking on clouds. I doubt it will be a feeling I have ever again.

Day 6

We were up and out early of HS15 on day 6. Two fabulous little black ponies, almost like Welsh Section As, for those of you that have known me a long time they reminded me of Sausage (for those of you that haven’t this was a very strangely named naughty little pony that I used to ride when I was 12, never thought I would ride anything like that again!!!!!).  They were incredibly quick and had great stamina.  The leg was really mountainous though so even with these two it wasn’t the fastest.

What we noticed on day 6 was that the pain stated to dull. We had been told by previous competitors that you will go through a pain barrier and that from about day 4 the pain would start to lessen.  For me this didn’t happen until day 6 but it is true that your body starts to either numb the pain or get so used to it so that you just stop noticing it as much. We also started to notice at this point that every time you got on a new horse something different would hurt, right knee one leg, left ankle the next, right shoulder the next.  I think we had started to shift our weight and riding style to compensate for the pain so each leg meant that something different would hurt. It became a bit of joke with me and Jeanette as to what started to hurt next.

HS16 was busy, there were quite a lot of riders there when we arrived. There weren’t many horses to choose from and when I picked mine I was told that I could have him because he was buddies with Jeanette’s pick and therefore I would be able to leave the station… So we left the station and everything was fine he was a little knappy but nothing difficult.  At about the 1km mark we were cantering along next to each other and suddenly he took a left turn to head back to the station! So we did a 360 and caught Jeanette up. As we continued on the leg this little 360 antic happened several times up until about the 7/8km point, with both of us laughing hard every time as it just came out of nowhere, she’d just carry on and I’d do a little circle and rejoin her and we carry on straight again until the next time he decided he wanted to go and rejoin his herd.

This leg had no fresh water but had a well. We could see the well from about 5km out and as we approached we could see another rider, as we watched this rider dismounted so we couldn’t make out if if was from the derby or not. As we got there we realised that it was another competitor, her horse didn’t want a drink so she had dismounted and removed it’s bit, although this had also meant it’s bridle, (an interesting idea!) so now it was eating grass and as you can imagine not so keen on being re-bridled. Whilst this would have been a good tactic in most endurance races, this was a semi-wild pony… We knew that if we left she would have no chance getting the bridle back on as her horse would want to come with us, so we waited, and waited, and about 15/20 mins later she finally succeeded, and off we went again. I would point out that the reason that neither Jeanette or I dismounted to help was because neither of our horses had been particularly easy to mount so we didn’t want the risk of not being able to get back on.

We ploughed on through HS17 to HS18 as fast as we could as we wanted to complete another 4 stations by the end of the day.  We had two big, chunky horses, not like anything we had seen to this point or saw for the rest of the race.  The leg was quite hilly and whilst they were pretty fit they weren’t that fast, but we made it, and when we reached HS18 we were told that the riding time had been extended to 9pm so we did a quick change, literally just refilling water and off we went again.

We both had pretty fine, race horse types for this leg so flew along to start with. We were following a river but knew there were a couple of bridges and a river crossing on the leg. One of the guys at HS18 that was taking a carry forward suggested that we took the direct route and cross the river early so that we got to the end quicker. Given all the rain that we had had at the beginning of the race and reports of previously flooded stations we decided that that wasn’t a very good idea.  What we found out later was that two other people had attempted this and it didn’t go so well for them, horses swimming, getting swept down stream etc… To GoPro footage doesn’t quite do it justice! When we got to the river crossing we had people waiting telling us exactly where to go and where the shallowest points were.  It was still deep enough to fill your boots… We were really glad that this had been our last leg of the day and not our first as the puddle in your boots was pretty unpleasant. And on we went again.

Although we had been given an extended time of 9pm the sun set at about 8:30 and by 8:45 you were riding by the light of an almost new moon and the ground was rocky.  Luckily the run into the HS19 was flat so we had seen the station about 7/8km out before it had got dark so we just headed for the lights. As it started to get dark a lone rider appeared out of nowhere and then disappeared again which was a little disconcerting. About 5 mins later two other riders appeared. It turned out these were the owners of the horses that we were riding. They had clearly decided that we were going too slowly and that they wanted to get their horses home. So in the pitch black we were basically herded at speed into the station, never mind our need to reduce our horses’ heart rates before we got there! Jeanette’s horse had tired by this point so one of the riders actually took the tie line and dragged her along… We all had a bit of a laugh when we got into the station, our vet was very understanding and realised that we had had no choice in our final 20 mins riding speed. The heart rates weren’t too high and were going down sufficiently so we were signed in and the herders left with their horses!

Day 7

HS19 was busy, we had managed to catch up with people that we hadn’t seen since the start line. This was the first time that getting to the end actually started to feel achievable. There were only 3 days left and whilst we ideally still wanted to complete 4 legs on days 7 and 8 we felt like we were getting horses that we could do that on and with the extended riding time it actually started to sink in that we might actually finish the race. There was a real change in mindset at this point, and it actually started to become enjoyable, well not all of it as you will see from the below…

We got out early, riding now starting at 6am rather than 6:30am, and got going not far behind Joel and Nicolette that we hadn’t seen since start camp.  It was during this leg that we realised that actually we just weren’t riding our horses hard enough. We kept up with them for about half the leg but in the end they ended up out of sight. By this point in the race however, although the pain had reduced, we just weren’t physically able to keep up with them, although I’m sure our horses could have…

HS20 was crazy! There were loads of competitors not too far ahead of us, their horses were being tacked up as we arrived and they all seemed loopy, people were switching out their horses, being bolted with, falling off before they had even left and all sorts! Jeanette and I decided that we’d just let everyone get out of the way, have some food and then sort ourselves out once most of the pack had cleared out. At this point we were starting to realise that we preferred riding at the back of the pack, not having to wait for vets, herders etc at every station, as we were having to do now that we had caught up with everyone else. We’d also got into a bit of a rhythm with our riding so riding with other people, the way they rode, didn’t always suit us. Once everyone had cleared out we asked the herders to pick us two horses. Both stood to be tacked up and didn’t have any  issues with the saddles and saddle bags. So off we went, I had a tall grey that was the closest to a horse that I had ridden.  He was lovely, had a really long gait (in comparison to what I had ridden so far) and a really comfortable fast trot.  This was the first horses in days that I could trot on with ease! This was a nice flat leg and he was my favourite horse to this point so it was great.

At HS21 we met up with Charmaine. She had got lost and ended up going over a mountain so even though she had left HS20 about 30 mins before us she ended up coming into HS21 just after us. The 3 of us then decided to ride on together. This leg was a nightmare! In the middle there was a bog which the track took you straight through! We couldn’t believe that the track was taking us through this so spent ages trying to work out if there was a way round. All our horses were small and quite fine and at one point Jeanette’s horse sunk up to it’s rump in the mud, but it sorted itself out without being at all bothered by the situation! Horses are picked from the areas that we were riding through so they are used to the terrain and that really showed on this leg. By the time we had got through this however they were pretty tired so the final 15km were pretty slow.

One more leg to complete to round off the day.  We had 3 super speedy horses and off we went. Unfortunately control was a little bit of a problem for all 3 of us and navigating therefore became challenging. We went the wrong way within the first 5km and had to make a bit of a detour. Once we had found our way back to the track we were caught up by Saif and Manuel. It turns out that they had had some difficulties in the bog as well and we had ended up overtaking them. We hadn’t seen them though which shows how big an area we were covering… The 5 of us rode on to HS23 in good time. This was a pretty easy leg and we all had  good horses so we made it just before dark.

So 2 days to go and we had 6 legs left. The plan was to complete 4 the next day and then only have 2 to complete on the final day meaning we should be finished by lunchtime. It all seemed possible now…

 

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Day 3

So we got to HS6 around 10am having had an awful start to the morning. From here we got our first 2 really good horses. They were totally different, mine was another little chestnut who had a tolt gait so was really comfortable and was fit as anything so just ran and ran. He will always stand out for me because he was the first one I rode that was really different! Jeanette had a big bay who she loved because he felt like a horse. It’s hard to explain but when you’re riding these tiny ponies and you then ride a taller horse the longer strides just feel so comfortable! 

This was a long leg, 40km, and really picturesque. It started off high, peaking at 1,850m, and then came down to flat plains as we came to HS7 so should have been lovely but this is where the knee pain really started to kick in. Also within the last 10km of the leg my hastily fixed fenders from day 1 broke again. So when I got to HS7 I started to have a look at making a more suitable repair. The herders were always really interested in our kit as they used nothing like it and many had never seen anything like it before. As I took the fender off my stirrup to make the repair they took the fender from me, got heavy duty needle and thread and fixed it for me. They did a far better job than I would have done, just brilliant!

HS7 to HS8 was another long leg, 37km. We had good horses and kicked on as fast as we could but with the pain in our knees getting worse that was not as quick as we would have liked. We had wanted to get to HS9 by the end of the day and catch up with the rest of the pack, but it was 5.30 by the time we reached HS8. We couldn’t camp out between HS8 and HS9 as there was no water and with a riding deadline of 8pm we couldn’t see how we could get to the next station in time. We were the last 2 in the race, the only ones at the station as some other riders had taken a carry forward to HS9 and ridden on to HS10. We were 2 stations behind the rest of the race and the support team had planned to close down the station that night. Really they wanted us to take a carry forward to HS9 but we managed to convince them to let us stay on the proviso that we completed 4 stations the next day. We agreed that if we didn’t, and were still 2 stations behind the rest of the pack, we’d take a carry forward the following night. So with just the 2 of us at the station it was a real luxury to get a whole ger to ourselves. We bedded down as night fell around 9pm (we didn’t know this would be the earliest night we would get for the rest of the race…) ready for an early start the next day, we had been given an extra hour so were starting at 5:30am.

Just a quick mention to the medical team at this point. When we arrived at the station there was an injured rider. We didn’t know the ins and outs of what had happened, but Flash was there and had broken her collar bone and wasn’t in a great way. The evacuation was impressive, they loaded her into the 4×4 and drove off to meet the ambulance. Whilst we hoped never to be in that situation it put your mind at ease seeing how it was all done.

Day 4

So this was our first 4 leg day… We left HS8 at 5:30am on a great pair of horses which we had picked the night before, or rather asked the herders/team to pick us a good pair. Sunrise was just before 6am and we were riding east so it was a beautiful morning.

We’d been making pretty good time and there was a long flat stretch in the middle. About 10km from the end I suddenly got an excruciating pain in my right groin muscle. It completely cramped up to the point where I had to get off and try and stretch it out for 15 mins… Why is it always when you’re going well something goes wrong? It eased off enough for me to get back on and we carried on slightly more slowly for to HS9.

Once we arrived and my horse was vetted in I left the team to pick me a horse while I went to see Andrei the medic at the station. He helped me stretch out my groin muscle and showed me some stretches to do. From this point stretching in between each station was a must… So when I came out my horse was tacked up, a liver chestnut stallion. Jeanette also had a chestnut stallion… They were beautiful and so powerful. There’d been a bit of a warning to be careful about picking the stallions but I hadn’t really had any involvement so just got on and off we went. And boy did we go! A little disconcerting as the ground was uneven to put it nicely and a trot (or even steady canter) was not some thing I was able to control at this point… We flew through this leg. It turned out  that canter was the most comfortable pace for both our knees and these two liked to canter so that’s what we did, canter walk, canter walk and as little trot as possible.

Here we are at HS10 just about to be vetted in, and stretching. It looks like I’m having some sort of zen moment but I think that was just me trying to breathe through the pain of the stretch I’d just finished… The family at HS10 were lovely, we sat and had some dumplings for lunch and then carried on. HS10 to HS11 was a flat leg that we made good time, the horses were great and just carried us through. At HS11 we were really limited on horses, there were only 3 or 4 left on the line. I picked a horse that was wearing the herders tack. In my mind the herders picked themselves good horses so hopefully this one should be good. I named him Shadow because he was afraid of his own shadow… This was probably one of the hardest legs of the whole race. It was first time we had ridden a fourth leg in a day, we’d been riding since 5:30am, we were exhausted and were in a lot of pain. Jeanette’s horse was not a leader so had to follow mine, and as I said mine was afraid of his own shadow. He was quick and he was fit but the shying was not good for my groin muscles especially when the shy was in canter… 

We got into HS12 at 8:08 so incurred a 16 min time penalty for the next day, but we had caught everyone up which was a great feeling. What was also really nice was that everyone was pleased to see you. And here a special thanks to Will, an Aussie we’d got to know at start camp. It was always really nice to see a smiling face telling you how well you’d done to get there, and being pleased to see you. Somehow it helped the pain of the day dissipate a little. They say that the derby is like a new family and it really is. People look out for each other, wish each other well and cheer each other up.

Day 5

So here’s the thing with day 5, I can’t really remember a lot of it… The first leg is a complete blur, I have almost no recollection of it at all… What I know about day 5 was that it was the worst day of the race, the pain was excruciating, I’m pretty sure the first horses weren’t great, and I only think this because we only did 3 stations on day 5. 

What I remember about HS12 to HS13 was that you came down from the hills, crossed a plain and could see the stations from way out, but it never seemed like it got any closer… We spent quite a lot of time at HS13, with Andrei again, poor guy became a bit like our personal medic as we were at the back of the field! He strapped up our knees and ankles, applied Deep Freeze, the ice version of Deep Heat and my new favourite pain reliever… And then we set off for HS14. I had a pretty uncontrollable start to this leg so Jeanette had to point me in the right direction and then I just went until I could stop and then waited for her to catch up. We also crossed the half way point on this leg to Bon Jovi’s Living on a Prayer, curtesy of Jeanette’s Spotify.  

HS14 I will never forget, it was a nightmare! As we arrived a number of other riders were having their horses tacked up and they all seemed to be loopy! The vets said the station was a nightmare with horses in bad condition and, whilst I didn’t see it other riders were saying that herders had been drunk… Just utter chaos and we were running out of time to get to the next station. We were told there were only 2 horses left, they tacked mine up and it went loopy, the herder got on and nearly it bucked to the point where the herder was almost bucked off. It was too late in the day and I was in too much pain to be getting on that one, so I asked them to find me a different horse. We explained that we were both in a lot of pain, Jeanette’s ankle was causing her a lot of problems and that we couldn’t ride anything that wild at this point in the day. We were totally demoralised and on the verge of getting a carry forward if they couldn’t find us any horses. At this point we could see no way of getting to the end of the race without a carry forward. We’d managed 4 legs the previous day but had had an extra hours riding, if we completed this leg we’d only managed 3 today and the only way to get to the end was another two days of 4 legs. It just didn’t seem possible.

And then Louise stepped in. She’d had a message from Katy at HQ about how much support we were getting on Twitter and how proud of us everyone was back home. That we shouldn’t feel like we were the back of the race as we weren’t because so many people had had carry forwards and that we were really ‘doing the derby’. Without Louise I have no doubt that we’d have been getting a lift to the next station.

Miraculously after a bit of negotiation between the herders and the Mongolians in the support team they found us two horses. Mine they’d originally said we couldn’t ride because it was a bucker. It wasn’t, it was just unfit which is why I imagine that the herders didn’t went us riding him. We had to comment on our horses when we got off them and I guess they knew that he would struggle to make the full distance and that would reflect badly on them. So off we went of HS15, and it wasn’t an easy leg. 39km through the mountains peaking at nearly 1,900m. It was beautiful though and even in the state we were in we did manage to stop and take a moment for the views, it would have been nicer to take longer but we were running out of time.

We made it to the station at 8:28 so with nearly an hours time penalty. This however would be added to our finish time and thankfully we wouldn’t have to wait in the morning. HS15 was more like a tourist camp, it even had sit down toilets, and until you’ve done something like this you can’t begin to imagine how much of a luxury the simple things like sitting down to go to the loo are… To put it into context, toilets were a hole in the ground and by the end of this race your legs are so tired that once you’ve crouched getting up is a real struggle…

Not only that but it was close to a town, so one of the interpreters and a driver went to buy crisps and snickers and drinks so we had a real feast at about 11pm. A fabulous end to a horrendous day!

 

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I’ve been back a week now and it still feels incredibly strange to think that I have completed the Mongol Derby. I still can’t quite believe that it is all over and that I have actually done it, it feels like a bit of a dream! So it’s time to put pen to paper…

Start Day -1

This should actually have been the start day but a few things got in the way. I am not normally one for nerves or apprehension but I have never felt as sick as I did that morning! Forcing breakfast down because I knew I needed to eat even though every mouthful made me feel worse. I have a new found sympathy for those that suffer with nerves like this… What the hell was I doing here and what was I about to embark on???

We went out to the horse line in groups, I was in ger 9 so the last group to head out. Charmaine and I actually made a beeline for the same horse, but she got there first. I went for the chunky little roan next to the chestnut she’d picked. The horses were saddled, our vet books were signed out and on we got for a warm up. And then the announcement came. The satellite monitoring our trackers was down so we couldn’t start the race… The HQ team had no idea how long this was going to take to resolve so we dismounted, horses were untacked and tied back on the horse line and we waited, and waited,  most of us just out by the horse line with the herders.

By lunchtime everyone started to move back into the camp. We could see a huge storm coming down between the mountains where we would have been riding had we started that morning. We watched the lightening flashing until the rain started and everyone took cover. There was a silver lining to not having started that morning! It blew through quite quickly but looking back out to the mountains we could see rivers appearing that hadn’t been there before, flood water flowing down the hills.

The satellite came back up later in the afternoon but it was too late to start the race by that point. The crew managed to pull together a dinner and an early night was had in preparation for our new start which was now at 7:30 the next morning.

Start Day

Strangely no feeling sick or apprehensive this morning. I think 24 hours of waiting just made me want to get on with it. Up, breakfasted and out to the horse line. Once on there was a bit of milling around before we headed down to the start line. After a few words from Race Chief Katy we were off. It was a bit of a strange feeling knowing that there were another 40 riders around you but strangely not everyone headed off in the same direction… 

I’d named my horse Viking as he reminded me of an Icelandic pony. He went off quick but couldn’t keep up the speed so his canter slowed. The field became more and more spread out and I started to loose sight of the front runners. We chugged along for a while and after about 20km I realised that my fender had broken! Not a great start with the kit… Just as this happened a group of riders caught up with me and Kelsey stopped whilst I duck taped the offending article. We then rode together to HS1.

The terrain changed quite a lot on this leg. We had a lot of flat, flooded grassland to start with that changed into some quite steep hills as we approached HS1. It had been a slow leg taking over 4 hours. Viking vetted in fine at the station, I stopped for a bite to eat and something to drink and whilst I was there Jeanette arrived. She’d had an awful start. Her horse had galloped uncontrollably for 20km and then stopped and laid down. She’d had to get off and lead it the last 15km…

We’d both been in ger 9 so had got to know each other a bit at start camp and so decided to ride the next leg together. We picked a pair of horses from the line and off we went in search of HS2. I had a fantastic little chestnut that just flew along, unfortunately Jeanette’s horse wasn’t quite so fit and tired relatively quickly. What we didn’t learn for the first few days was that we could have pushed the horses a lot harder than we did, it turns out we were just a bit too nice… So another pretty slow 4 hour leg and we finally got to HS2. 

A very quick turn around as it was nearly 5pm and off we went again. We rode this leg with Jack and Rob who’d had to 2 hour vet penalty at the station. So 4 of us headed off into the oncoming storm. It goes against your natural instinct riding towards lightening especially when the ground is totally flat, and it was pretty unpleasant galloping into the rain when that finally started! But that being said all was going well, I had another forward going horse that was happy just to run regardless of the weather or the ground. We’d got about 20km in and reached some flood water that we couldn’t ride through. We were riding by the side of a road so went up onto the road to avoid the water. And that’s where it went wrong… Just as we started to come down off the road my seemingly quiet horse put in a cracking buck and that was me left sitting at the side of the road trying to work out what had happened. Pretty bad pain in my lower back where I’d hit the floor and a bump to the head. By the time I realised what was going on I could just see my horse galloping back the way we had come. As we’d been almost the last ones out of the HS2 there happened to be a passing crew vehicle less than 5mins later. The others rode on and the medics were called in to check me out. A bit battered and bruised and a few pain killers later and I was in the blood wagon on my way to HS3 hoping that someone would catch my horse and retrieve my kit. The thought of loosing everything on day 1 was pretty disheartening… 

HS3 was busy, over 20 of us had made it to that station that day. Luckily about an hour after I got there someone delivered my kit, so I had dry clothes and sleeping bag which was all I wanted by this point.

Day 2

After a final check by the medics, because of the bump to my head, I was given the all clear to ride. The first horse I selected was a bit wild, bucking on the end of the rope once tacked up. Still feeling pretty bruised and sore from the day before I decided that he was a bit too much to handle that morning. So I switched him for a quieter horse, and off Jeanette and I went. Her horse had speed, but mine just kept going, so whilst we lagged behind a bit we always caught up. He was a great little horse, really sure footed dodging all the marmot holes as we went along. Unfortunately a couple of km from HS4 he went lame, so that was us walking in the last 6km, another slower leg than we’d anticipated.

A quick turn around and we were off again, Cele had come into the station as we were there so joined us on this leg. Unfortunately we all had pretty slow, stubborn horses on this leg. The little bay I was riding would go for it, if it was a direction he wanted to go in, unfortunately most of the time the direction on the gps was not the direction that he wanted to go! And I knew he was just testing me because at no point during the 35km did he even break into a sweat… So another slow leg and we finally made it to HS5. 

We tried for a quick turnaround here but the horse I had picked got loose after the herders had saddled him and he went for a gallop with his herd for 10 mins. A note to anyone thinking of taking this on, always switch the horse if they’ve been for a gallop before you get on… This particular horse was great for the first 20km and then he was done. I now understand where the term flogging a dead horse comes from… Jeanette’s horse had been pretty steady from the start and was unfit so 16km out from HS6 we were wondering how we were going to get to the station by the 8pm deadline. We’d been riding with Cele and Karin who’s horses were still fresh so they carried on to try and make the station in time. 

Jeanette and I decided we had no choice but to sleep out. At 8pm and about 7km out from the station we found a ger. After about 30 mins we managed to convince them to let us stay. At first they weren’t too keen as the station wasn’t that far away but we couldn’t get them to understand that we had a time limit for when we had to stop riding. Cele actually returned at this point as well as she wasn’t going to make it to the station by 8pm either. So we tied the horses up and as I was untacking my horse went crazy, broke free and galloped off!! So the poor family spent an hour catching him. They were incredibly hospitable, welcoming us into their ger, cooking for us and allowing us to bed down. The next morning we were up a 6am (later than we’d hoped but the family weren’t up). After we’d packed up and tacked up the horses we gave them some time to graze. As I went to mount, my horse turned into a bronco, kicking me in the leg, knocking Jeanette to the floor and kicking her in the chest. Luckily she was wearing a body protector! And so he was loose again. The family tried to catch him but then another 2 herders turned up, the owners of the horse. I’ll never know if this was coincidence or if the family had called them in to help… Anyway they caught him, rode him and then helped me get on. We decided at this point that we weren’t going to stay with any more family’s given the trouble we had caused, I felt awful… So we finally got to HS6 at around 10am! 

The first 2 days hadn’t really gone to plan and day 3 started pretty badly and it didn’t get better right away from this point but that’s enough for today…

 

My fundraising night page is still active so if you haven’t done so already you can still donate and 100% of all donations goes directly to the charities…

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/gemmaractliffe

So here I am in Beijing having completed the longest, toughest, multi-horse race in the world. And boy was it what it said it was going to be… Things are all a little surreal at the moment so just a few words to start with whilst I get my head around the feat that I have accomplished and put the full journey into words in due course.

I signed up for this race back in February, so the last 6 months have been pretty much all consuming in the quest to get to the start line. And now both the start and finish line are behind me so here is a little summary…

44 fierce competitors

1016 km in 8.5 days

29 unforgettable horses

28 horse stations manned by some of the most hospitable people you will ever meet

1 fall

1 kick

1 river crossing

A couple of flash floods (meaning rivers where there shouldn’t have been rivers…)

Too many bogs and marshes

Way too many mosquitos

Numerous aching joints and muscles

An incredible support team including the medics that kept patching us up

Thankfully no blood

A whole lot of sweat

A few tears at the end when I finally achieved what I had thought at times I might never do

And a lot of new friends 

And then there’s Jeanette. We teamed up at horse station 1 so rode all but the first 35 km together. I couldn’t have done this  without her and in all my preparation I never imagined that I would laugh as much as I did during the race. I feel very lucky to have shared this journey with her.

It was a privilege to cross the line with her and Charmane. We’d shared a ger during pre-race training so it seems very fitting that we ended the race together as well… 

Jeanette and I were also awarded the KBO award, in the words of Winston Churchill, Keep Buggering On. Or as Jeanette so eloquently put it comparing us to cockroaches that you just can’t kill 😉 So there you go, the recognition for just putting your head down, digging in and not letting anything get in your way. Oh and always trying to have a smile on your face makes that a bit more bearable! So that’s what we did, our aim had been to get to the end and we did it with time to spare!

So the race might be over, but there is still time to sponsor me if you haven’t done so yet… 100% of all donations goes directly to the charities

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/gemmaractliffe

So here we go.  The last post before I start this epic adventure across the Mongolian Steppe and head into 2 weeks of being off the grid.

Tomorrow morning we have our introductory briefing and rider weigh before heading out on the 6 hour drive to the start camp.

Tomorrow evening’s welcome party will consist of a Mongolian banquet and traditional music and dance. And no doubt some airag (that’s a traditional drink of fermented mares milk…)  Monday and Tuesday we will have 2 days pre-race training meeting the horses and being shown how to handle them, as well as navigation, medical training etc. Oh and working out how to get that 5kg of kit securely fitted to our saddles.

Wednesday morning, race starts. 10 days to cross 1000km on 29 different semi-wild ponies…

So the Mongolian horse (and they are officially horses even though most are 13hh or under), friend or nemesis. From what I have seen so far and the couple of days riding I have done this week I’m going with friend but I’ll give the final answers to that question when I’m back!

 

And of course there’s us still time to help me reach my fundraising goals… 100% of all donations goes to charity

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/gemmaractliffe

https://www.coolearth.org/campaigns/22215/journey-to-the-derby/

It occurred to me that I haven’t given much information on the charities that I’m raising money for on this crazy adventure. So here we go a little update…

The Horse Rangers Association

As I previously mentioned I have been a member of this organisation for nearly 30 years. It is a very unique place that supports many children and young people from all walks of life.  The organisation recently held their annual RDA (Riding for the Disabled Association) Open Day and Awards Day.  The Open Day sees members from 4 special needs schools compete against each other in races gaining points for their school and the awarding of a trophy for the winning school. Riding is proven to not only help from the physiotherapy and motor skills perspective but also helps build confidence. When you watch the children take part in the Open Day these benefits are clear to see.

The annual Awards Day rewards the hard work and dedication of the mainstream members. Throughout the year the children are given marks for their riding, attendance and the smartness of their dress that are tallied up for provision of awards. There are also awards for mentoring and a special leaders award where the leaders of each session award one member for their work, achievements or improvement over their previous 12 months. It really is an enjoyable day rewarding the achievements of the previous year.

To support the Horse Rangers Association please click on the link below

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/gemmaractliffe

 

Save the Children – East Africa Food Crisis Appeal

East Africa is in the grip of a critical hunger crisis. 21m people across Somalia, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Kenya don’t have access to enough food. A combination of prolonged drought and conflict has left families trapped in a cycle of hunger and disease. In May alone Save the Children helped thousands and thousands of people in these drought stricken lands. Here is an example of how… In Somalia they provided free health services to more than 37000 people including treating young children for malaria, pneumonia and diarrhoea, as well as vaccinating children under 5 against measles. In Ethiopia they treated over 3500 children suffering from life threatening acute malnutrition. In Kenya they provided 1500 cash grants to families whose livelihoods have been decimated by back to back failed rains. In South Sudan they distributed more than 7000 fishing kits and 4.64 metric tonnes of high nutrient peanut paste to families in need. They are literally saving lives on a daily basis!

To support Save the Children please click on the link below

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/gemmaractliffe

 

Cool Earth

This is the official charity of The Adventurists, the crazy people who created the Mongol Derby and many other equally challenging events. To date over 3000 ‘Adventurists’ from 41 countries have raised over £1m for the charity by taking part in 6 lunatic adventures. This money has empowered 16 Ashaninka villages, provided 74 families with safe water, saved 56 lives through emergency evacuations, trained 75 women in basic newborn care and supported 14 rainforest schools, amongst other things… The charity’s ethos is simple ‘Homo sapiens have razed half of the rainforest and every worthy attempt to save it has made matters worse. The only thing that works is putting local people back in control. Cool Earth is the only charity out there that does that. The money raised by the Adventurists has helped fantastic people in Peru, the Congo and Papua New Guinea to stop over 600,000 acres going up in smoke.’

To support Cool Earth please follow the link below

https://www.coolearth.org/campaigns/22215/journey-to-the-derby/

So I’ve been out here for a week and the first thing I am going to say is VAST!!

We arrived on the train from Beijing, it took just over 10 hours from the Chinese border and until about 45 minutes out of Ulaanbaatar it was pretty much desert and grassland with the intermittent village, small town or mine.

We’ve since travelled south west of UB and seen desert with sand dunes, unending grassland, rolling hills, forested mountains and rocky outcrops.  All within 400km of the capital, quite astounding! 

The land which we now call Mongolia has a rich and varied past from the world renouned fossils found in the Gobi desert to the tumultuous reign of Chinggis Khan (yes apparently that is not spelt with a G) and the great Mongol Hords that created a vast  Empire, to being part of numerous Chinese dynasties, to independence from China and the introduction of Communism and finally current day democratic Mongolia.  Putting that summary into one paragraph doesn’t really do it justice but you can see what I mean about the history of this land and it’s people…

Covering an area 1.56m square kilometres (the UK is just 242k square kilometres) and with a population of 3m, of which 1.5m live in UB, it’s not surprising there isn’t much on most of the land apart from livestock and gers (the Mongolian for a yurt).  To add a little more perspective to that there are 60m head of livestock owned by the 30% of the population who still live the traditional nomadic herding lifestyle!

The nomadic culture of Chinggis Khan’s reign is still strong, the gers are of the same style just with a few modernisations, like solar panels and satellite dishes, but in many rural areas the nomads still where the traditional local dress of the region.  The nomads of 500 years ago clearly got something right!

UB has changed a lot since the 90s and the end of communism.  The reminder of these times is evident in the Soviet Russian style buildings dotted around the centre of the city, many of which are falling into ruin.  But the investment is clear with large modern apartment blocks, offices and hotels dwarfed only by the distant mountains. And if you head to the city department store you can find Apple, Levi’s, North Face, Next, l’Occitane and Godiva chocolates. Not at all what I expected! The influence of  the West and a free market is clearly evident.

 

And just as a reminder, so we don’t forget the reason why I’m here, is to take part in this crazy horse race that is the Mongol Derby and raise as much money as possible for charity. So please support me 😀

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/gemmaractliffe

https://www.coolearth.org/campaigns/22215/journey-to-the-derby/

So I’ve been back from Ecuador for a while and whilst I was riding for a couple of hours a day, everyday out there that hasn’t been possible back in the UK.

For the last 2 months I have been focusing on overall fitness as well as trying to ride 2 or 3 times a week.  I have been swimming a lot and cycling.  And I tell you what, give me an equine saddle over a bike saddle any day!! That has to be good saddle training 😉

I haven’t had access to horses that I can take on 40km rides but with the help of the team at The Horse Rangers I’ve just been riding as many horses as possible.  Not only is this giving me the saddle time but it is also good preparation as I will be riding 25 plus different horses during the derby.

I received my kit from The Adventurists a couple of weeks ago,

and have been busy acquiring all the kit that I need for the  race.  This week I completed a full day in the saddle round Bushy Park fully kitted up to ride in Mongolia.

Thanks to Tree and the team for their help!

So I’m fitter than I have ever been (maybe not quite as fit as I would like to be but it’s a pretty good start) and I am ready to take on the challenges that the Derby has to offer.

If you’d like to support me on my journey I’m raising money for 3 unique charities (charity updates to follow in coming posts), The Horse Rangers Association, Save The Children’s East Africa Food Crisis

https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/gemmaractliffe

and Cool Earth

https://www.coolearth.org/campaigns/22215/journey-to-the-derby/